


When all is darkest we find each other

by Glaux_Bryonia



Series: Sons of the Revolution [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: ASL Brothers, Child Monkey D. Luffy, Child Portgas D. Ace, Gen, Luffy lives with his father, Portgas D. Ace is an angry smol child, Revolutionaries, Revolutionary Army - Freeform, Temporary Amnesia, Temporary Character Death, child ASL, child Sabo, lost brothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-26 08:49:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21371413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glaux_Bryonia/pseuds/Glaux_Bryonia
Summary: Sabo is dead and nothing matters anymore to Ace.... Except maybe getting this stupid kid he doesn't know to stop poking him with a stick and letting him grieve in peace.
Relationships: Monkey D. Dragon & Monkey D. Luffy, Portgas D. Ace & Sabo
Series: Sons of the Revolution [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1650076
Comments: 46
Kudos: 420





	When all is darkest we find each other

The sun was merciless.

Merciless in its heat, merciless its bright cheerfulness. Merciless in its pretence that this was a day like any other.

It was the kind of day they would have gone hunting, knowing the Terminal’s stink would be too bad with the heat.

It was merciless in its pretence that Ace might ever hunt together with anyone again.

Ace hung limp in his bonds. The bark against his back was rough and dug into the countless scrapes and bruises that covered his skin from his struggles.

Ace barely felt it. He was barely feeling anything. There was too little of him left to feel with.

Arms and legs gone numb with the strain. Stomach so empty it had stopped growling, now only sitting sullen and quiet somewhere where Ace could forget about its existence. Throat dust dry and scratchy as rusty steel wool. Cheeks fever-hot and eyes burning.

His chest, carved open and empty, scraped clean off all that once filled it. The fire of his anger. The darkness of his hatred. The defiance that once burned so bright.

His bond with his brother, now broken and tattered, as shattered as bones thrown from cliffs, and so much more painful. Sliced to pieces with just a handful of words.

_Sabo…_

Ace wished he could still cry. He never cried before, but somehow, that seemed the only way to express himself right now. Except for screaming, but he has already screamed his throat bloody, screamed until he could taste it deep in the back of his mouth, and now he could barely even breathe, let alone produce a sound.

His eyes were as dry and scratchy as his throat. There should be agony. There should be pain. And there _was. _

And yet, all he felt now was empty.

There was simply nothing left.

He did not know how long he hung there, suspended by the ropes. Bark against his back, the sun burning his skin where the light reached through the canopy. It was all distant, so far away he didn’t even really notice it.

Something poked him.

Ace ignored it, not even caring to register where the feeling originated from.

Something poked him again.

This time, he did vaguely realize it was on his thigh. He ignored it.

_Poke, poke. Poke, poke._

His hip. His ribs where the ropes parted enough for whatever it was that was poking him to reach.

Ace twitched. The pokes were climbing.

_Poke, poke. Poke, poke._

His shoulder.

_Poke, poke. Poke, poke._

His _face._

_Poke. Poke? _Right into the scabbed-over wound on his forehead.

_“WILL YOU KNOCK IT OFF!!!” _he screamed as loud as his throat would allow. His voice was hoarse and raw, and barely louder than his normal voice even with his best efforts, but it got the message across.

He tasted blood again.

The kid in front of him stopped poking him with his stick and blinked. He seemed younger than Ace himself by a few years. He was skinny, but with rounded cheeks that told more clearly than anything that the kid did not know hunger. Ace hated him on sight.

Then the boy grinned, so wide and cheerful it had to hurt. All happiness, as if nothing was wrong in the world. He looked like an idiot.

Ace desperately wanted to take his pipe and knock all the teeth out of that smile. He _snarled._

“Yay, you’re alive!” the stupid boy cheered, punching up with both hands, the stick still held in one. With the way he acted, you would think he was entirely blind to Ace’s animosity.

“Of course I’m alive!” Ace tried to shout. He was cut off by his throat rebelling against the continued abuse, swiftly followed by the lungs he’d thought were long gone. His coughing fit killed half the sentence.

The boy did not seem bothered by this. Instead he watched with curious eyes as Ace tried to empty his chest even further.

Once the coughing subsided, the boy cheerfully piped “Hi! I’m Luffy!” As if Ace hadn’t nearly choked in front of him, and wasn’t trying to murder him with his eyes.

This kid was just. Sheer indestructible cheerfulness.

Ace’s anger and hatred were back. Back in such large quantities, with such intensity, they filled the gaping hole inside him, spilling over into his sore throat until they fell in vicious waves from his lips.

He had no desire for a name, no desire for company, no desire for _happiness, _now the most important person in his world was gone, gone, _gone-_

His voice was barely more than a whisper, but the fire with which he spat his curses and insults made them hiss like striking snakes. Ace willed them to bite hard and deep, poison the idiot before him until he ran crying in pain and terror, never able to dig the fangs back out.

The boy just watched him, unperturbed by the venom Ace was sprouting in his direction.

“Why are you tied to the tree?” he bluntly asked, interrupting Ace’s tirade.

Ace tried to snarl again, but his throat was done playing along, and all that got out was a rush of breath that carried only the barest tremor of a curse.

The boy frowned. “People shouldn’t be tied to trees,” he said, folding his arms as if his disapproval could cower the world into submission. He looked so serious he looked ridiculous.

So ridiculous Ace wanted to kick his face in, punch that stupid face and those rounded cheeks until they were black and blue. Anything to do something with the sheer _darkness _filing his chest.

Ace detested ignorance. His own and everyone else’s. Detested it with the passion of a thousand suns. And this cheerful, well-fed boy looked like the most ignorant thing in the world.

_“Go away!”_ Ace shout-whispered. Frustrated beyond belief, he wondered if he would have enough voice left to make him.

“No,” the boy said obtusely, picking at his nose. He eyed the knots of Ace’s bonds like a show parrot might a slice of juicy fruit. Curious, and without any sense of self-preservation at all.

This boy, Ace decided determinedly, would die at his hands if he was stupid enough to free him.

Blissfully unaware of Ace’s murderous thoughts, the kid started picking at the tangled rope. His tongue peeked out from between his lips and his face was twisted in an exaggerated frown.

By the time the last knot came undone, Ace was quivering with his pent-up anger.

But then the ropes fell away, and his body cashed in Ace’s debts. Ace collapsed, graceless as a sack of garbage falling over. His limbs shook as blood slowly, agonizingly, started to make its way to extremities it hadn’t been able to reach before. Ace bit his lip against crying out, despite knowing that he probably didn’t have the voice for such a thing anyway.

The boy just stood over him and watched him struggle to get up, like he was a particularly interesting insect. “What’s your name?” the boy asked. Stupidly, as if they’re meeting on a market to consider a – a _playdate_, as one of the nobles once called it, not in the middle of a jungle in front of a bandits den with Ace’s chest so unbearably empty and stiflingly full at once that he wanted nothing more than to claw the boy’s eyes out.

Ace was barely-contained violence in a too-small body, and he had a good few inches on this boy. The kid didn't stand a _chance._

“Oi, what’s going on here?”

The boy and Ace both looked at the door of the bandits den. Magra stood in the doorway, a worried frown on his face.

“Hey! Boy, I shouldn’t do that if I was you,” the bandit said, rushing forward to inspect the unbound ropes. The way he eyed them, it was obvious he was considering tying Ace back up.

Ace was still trembling from the force of his anger. Maybe he would have to wait with killing the boy, and start with stupid Magra instead.

The cheerful idiot somehow caught the meaning of that look too, despite how oblivious he was.

“No!” the boy shouted, stepping in front of Ace as if to protect him. “People shouldn’t be tied up! That’s mean! He’s hurt, you should take care of him instead!”

Magra stared at the boy for a moment. “Ace can’t be let loose right now,” he not-explained. “He’d get himself in trouble.” His brow furrowed. “Who are you anyway?”

“Hi, I’m Luffy!” the boy said cheerfully. Then he got serious again. His serious face would be comical if it didn’t make Ace’s skin crawl with revulsion. “People shouldn’t be tied to trees,” he repeated, pointing his stick at Magra’s chest as if scolding the massive bandit. “Why would you tie him to a tree in the first place?! He’s hurt, he could get hurt worse if he stays out here!”

If Sabo was here, Ace would laugh at the image. Especially the nonplussed expression Magra was sporting.

“S-shut up,” Ace hissed at the boy. “I don’t need your pity!”

“It’s not pity!” the boy defended hotly. “People shouldn’t be hurt or tied up! I’m helping because it’s the right thing to do.”

“Ah, Luffy? You shouldn’t argue with Ace right now. He’s a violent boy, he will hurt you if you make him angry now.”

Normally that remark would enrage Ace. But he was already enraged, so now it did nothing but make him want to inflict his violence on Magra’s stupid face.

“I don’t care if he’s angry. He’s been hurt and tied up, of course he’s angry!”

“Ah… no, that’s not the reason. You see, um…” Magra glanced at Ace. Ace tried to communicate with his eyes that he was going to _murder him_ if he said another word. Magra blanched, but then blanced even more in the face of the younger boy’s comical glower and pointy stick.

Ace growled. The bandit was really spineless.

“His friend, um…”

“Oh. Did he die in the fire?” The boy asked innocently. “I saw it you know? It was _huge.”_

Ace snarled and lunged at him.

The boy dodged around him and then, to Ace’s shock, tackled him from behind in a_ hug _of all things, dropping his stick in the process. “I’m sorry,” the boy said into his shoulder as Ace struggled to throw him off. Fuck, this kid had a grip like one of his Gramp’s monkeys. “Losing people hurts a lot. I’m sorry you lost your friend.”

The words hit like punches, cracking him right down the middle.

“Shut up! Shut _up_!” Ace screamed, trembling. “What would you know?! Sabo was- Sabo was-“

Oh, there were his tears again. He hadn’t thought he had any left.

To his surprise, the boy let go, stepping back to stare at him. Ace refused to turn around.

“… Sabo?” the boy repeated, an odd tone to his voice. “Your friend’s name is Sabo?”

_“So what if it was?”_ Ace snarled around his hiccups, throwing his most vicious glare over his shoulder.

The boy was unaffected. “Is he blond?” he asked instead.

Ace stiffened, and then slowly turned around. “… What?”

“Your friend. Is he blond? 'Cos my dad, he found someone this morning. He was in the water, and really hurt. He’s about as tall as you. He had ‘Sabo’ written on some of his clothes.”

The cavity in Ace’s chest was full of ice. Had to be, because he felt like he was frozen stiff. As if the slightest movement would shatter him into shards.

Magra did not have that problem. Instead, he gripped the boy’s, no, _Luffy’s_ shoulders. “Were his clothes blue?” he asked intently. “Was he dressed like a nobleman’s son?”

Breathless, Ace listened intensely for the answer.

“Yeah!” Luffy confirmed happily. “Hey, you_ do_ know him!”

Ace couldn’t breathe. Ace couldn’t _breathe_. Yet despite the ice in his veins and the dark storm in his chest, he somehow found enough strength to produce words.

“Take me to him,” he demanded in a hoarse whisper.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

This, Ace knew, was a terrible decision.

His eyes drilled into the back of the cloaked and hooded man in front of him. Once Luffy had carelessly given him this terrible, terrible _hope_, he had spent far too much time worried and frantic, while the boy just laughed and bluntly admitted he’d gotten lost after he left his father’s ship out of boredom.

Only once Ace had well and truly ruined the last of his voice for the coming week, did this stranger appear. Apparently Luffy’s father was no fool, and had send someone after his wayward son. From Luffy’s reaction, it was a common occurrence.

Ace knew he was being reckless and stupid. A kid he could overpower, even with his injuries and the exhaustion of the past few days lingering thick as the Terminal’s stench around his bones.

An adult, whom he had barely even seen because of the long cloak and hood they were wearing? After being attacked by Bluejam, escaping with Dadan, and then spending more than a day and a night tied to a tree? An adult who even towered above Dadan, who was no small woman yet who was dwarfed by the bulk of this man? Ace hated it, but he wouldn’t stand a chance if this was all an elaborate trap from Bluejam, or Sabo’s father, or anyone else that might have taken offence at Ace’s existence.

It was the height of foolishness to follow this giant stranger to an unknown location, all for the merest chance that his best friend and brother might somehow have survived the impossible.

And yet… There was _no choice_, no choice at all. If there was a chance, the smallest, wildest, infinitesimal _chance _that Luffy’s Sabo was his Sabo, Ace _had _to take it.

Even if it meant going alone, with what little worldly possessions he had, to board a ship that would leave as soon as his companions’ feet touched the deck. He barely even had enough treasure to buy his way back to Dawn if he needed.

… Even, he thought as he took in the sight of Luffy’s father’s ship, if it meant throwing himself on the mercy of someone who had a ship that could rival Bluejam’s for pretentiousness.

There would be no turning back.

Luffy mistook his wary stare for awe, and happily exclaimed, “my dad’s ship is the coolest, isn’t it? When I’m older I’m gonna have one that’s just as cool!”

Ace said nothing. Just followed the big guy up the ramp on legs he refused to let shake. Luffy bounced after him, happy as a puppy and just as energetic.

“I’m gonna ask if you can sleep in my room,” Luffy said. “We can be the best of friends! It will be so much fun!”

Ace had only one friend. If it wasn’t for Sabo, he wouldn’t even be here. But if this _was_ Sabo… Luffy would have helped him get to his brother. Ace could forgive a lot of presumptions for that.

He was not going to be Luffy’s friend though. No way in hell.

He just didn’t want to risk getting thrown overboard by Luffy’s dad. Unless of course this _wasn’t _Sabo, and Dawn was still in sight. Then he might not mind.

Part of him snidely told him not to get his hopes up. Yet another part was full of this desperate _yearning_ and it was by far the larger part.

If this wasn’t Sabo, Ace realized with dread, he didn’t know how he was going to survive.

There was a man waiting for them. Cloaked and hooded like their giant guide, but unlike their guide he was the size of a normal man. Yet this man had a presence that reminded Ace a bit of his grandfather at his most serious.

“Luffy,” the man said, somehow sounding both stern and exasperated. “I am sure I gave you instructions to follow.”

“I was bored!” Luffy exclaimed happily, as if he had gotten a warm ‘welcome back’ instead of a lead-up to a lecture. 

“I see.” The tone of voice did imply the man _did _see, but did not enjoy the fact. “Your new friend?”

“I found him tied to a tree! Tying people up is bad, so I set him free! He’s looking for his friend.”

The man nodded, as if that was a perfectly acceptable explanation. Or maybe just an expected explanation. “I see. And where is his friend?”

“In the infirmary!”

“We think,” the big guy added in his signature deep voice, just a touch of wryness to that calm rumble. “His friend’s description matches with the boy you found earlier, boss. Since he seemed quite upset and Luffy insisted, I decided it couldn’t hurt to see if we could reunite them.”

The boss, whom Ace was starting to suspect was Luffy’s dad, was watching him closely. Ace stiffened, and tried to make no moves that the man might be offended by. Ace had never attempted to do that before, so he hoped he wasn’t doing too terribly.

“Well then,” the man said finally. “Since it seems Luffy’s new friend could benefit to a visit to the infirmary for himself, go test your theory. If we can repair one more bond the Celestial Dragons tried to break, that will be another victory for us.”

He turned, apparently done with the conversation, and instead moved on to a group of men at the railing.

Just as Luffy dragged him below deck, Ace could hear the man order to cast off.

Ace swallowed. No going back, he reminded himself.

“Don’t worry about my dad, he’s always like that when he’s working,” Luffy said with his ever-present grin on his face. “Hey, wanna go eat after this? You must be hungry!”

Ace didn’t say anything. Just hurried along in the footsteps of the big guy, almost stepping on his heels in his haste. There was no hunger that could compare to this need to _know._

As they moved deeper into the ship, Ace felt his nerves reach a fever pitch. Despite himself, his pace slowed as his trepidation crested. There was a war raging inside him. Hope and fear battled each other like ferocious beasts. On one hand, he _had to know._ On the other, he couldn’t bear the thought of his hope being proven _false_.

Hope was a _horrible_ thing to have, Ace realized as his heart clenched painfully in his chest.

“Come on, it’s this way!” An eager hand seized his wrist, and the choice to move forward or not was taken from him. It was almost a relief to be pulled along at a pace that gave him the choice to either keep up or be dragged. It was a far easier choice than the previous one.

In what felt like both seconds and at the same time hours, they arrived at a pair of double doors.

Ace froze. “I-is this-?”

“Yup! Let’s go!”

Ace couldn’t breathe when he slowly stepped over the threshold. There were several beds. Only one was occupied.

Between the stark whiteness of the sheets there was a glint of pale blond.

A very familiar blond.

Heart in his throat, Ace approached the bed at a walk that soon turned into a short sprint. He did not know whether he had been holding his breath or for how long, but he felt lightheaded when he arrived at the side of the bed an eternity later.

He almost didn’t dare look at the face, but when he did, tears sprung in his eyes.

Sabo. It was_ Sabo_.

Reaching out, he clutched the pale hand that looked so small in the large bed. His own looked unbearably filthy next to the crisp linen and the ghostly shade of his brother's skin.

It was _warm._

There was a godawful keening noise, and it took Ace a while to realize it was himself who was causing it. His eyes stung as his relief squeezed the last few tears he didn’t know he had out of him. They dripped on his dirty hand and the clean sheets. Ace wouldn’t mind if Sabo woke up now, even if that meant his brother would see the ugly picture he made.

He was far luckier than anyone with cursed blood like him deserved.

There was a tactful silence behind him, and the sound of two pairs of retreating footsteps. At the door they paused.

“I will instruct the others to leave you for a while. According to the doctors, he should wake up soon,” the deep voice of the big guy said. Then, after a thoughtful pause, added, “Your friend suffered a great injury to his head, so he might wake up confused. Be patient and understanding if that happens.”

Before Ace could ask what that was supposed to mean, the door clicked shut and he was alone with his unconscious brother.

Without any idea what else to do, Ace hopped onto the bed and curled up against Sabo. He carefully stayed away from the places where the bandages were the thickest, and avoided Sabo’s left side entirely, as well at the weird tube they’d stuck into him. Ace knew shit about medical stuff, but he hoped that anything that the people here had done to Sabo would help him heal. But he did keep a hold of Sabo’s hand, and decided he would not let go until Sabo was awake.

His brother’s warmth was a comforting balm to the parts of Ace that were still keening with loss. He hoped his heart would soon catch up. He no longer needed to feel that way. Sabo was right here, and Ace was going to stay with him, and _no one _ would _ever _separate them again.

_Never again, _Ace vowed silently. _I’ll never leave you alone again. Not even your shitty father can make me._

He clutched Sabo’s hand a little tighter.

There was a faint sound and a tiny crinkle appeared between Sabo’s brows.

Ace’s throat closed as if someone had stuck it in a vice. As if Gramps closed his fist around his neck and squeezed.

Terrified, he did not dare move as Sabo groaned again, slowly turned his head this way and that, and then _finally, finally_ opened confused blue eyes.

Sabo’s gaze fell on the statue that was Ace.

“Who are you?”

Ace could have decked him. Only the big guy’s warning kept his fist from meeting his brother’s cheekbone and instead buried itself in soft white right next to a bandage covered ear.

“_Are you fucking serious?!?_”

Sabo flinched at the fist so close to his temple. But then immediately his temper ignited, just like Ace was used to from his brother. “Wha- Wait a minute! Shouldn’t I be saying that?!”

“Fuck off, you’re the one asking stupid questions!”

“What? Asking a stranger sitting- sitting in _my bed_, what the _hell_\- who he is sounds pretty sensible to _me._”

It was like a punch in the gut.

“S- stranger?! Me?! What the _hell_, Sabo?”

But Ace felt he already knew even as the words left his lips. ‘Confused’ the big guy had said. _How confused?_ Ace had wondered, before Sabo’s awakening had chased the question from his mind. But now it was back. And worse than ever.

_So confused he won’t even recognize his own brother?_

It hurt almost as bad as Sabo dying.

Entirely ignorant to Ace’s inner turmoil, Sabo just kept talking. “What do you mean? Do I- should I know you?”

“I’m not telling you!” Ace shouted without thinking. “Remember it for yourself!”

“… Huh?!”

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Ace wasn’t sulking. His best friend was alive. He was happy. He wasn’t hurt at all.

Gods, Sabo didn’t even _remember him_.

Ace bit his lip and clutched his knees tighter. Angrily, he glared at the wall till the tears that threatened to fall left again.

He _wasn’t hurt. _Sabo was hurt far worse than him, and _Sabo _wasn’t crying, so Ace wasn’t going to cry either.

Mostly, Sabo just looked extremely confused. But that was Luffy’s fault, not Ace’s. Dumbass couldn’t even explain a game of cards. Dumbass didn’t even seem to understand how to play the game in the first place. Just grabbed cards and piled them up and laughed stupidly like being dumb was funny. No wonder Sabo didn’t get it.

Ace knew how the game should be played, but like hell was he going to go over there and tell. He hadn’t meant to say what he did to Sabo, but he wasn’t going to take it back!

Stupid Sabo should remember on his own. Some kind of brother he was, forgetting about Ace.

Ace resolutely ignored the tiny voice complaining that Ace was a horrible brother too, not even telling Sabo what was going on when he was so obviously hurt and confused. The tiny voice was stupid too. Ace shouldn’t _have_ to explain.

Ace wanted to leave, but that would mean leaving Sabo alone with the idiot, and he’d _promised _he wouldn’t leave Sabo alone again. So he wasn’t going to, even if it meant hearing Sabo be stupid with Luffy together.

“Ah, Luffy, what did you say the values were again?”

“Lemme see! Ah, this one is high, and this one is high, and this- damnit, Sabo is winning!”

“Huh? I am?”

“Yeah! Look, I only got these!”

“Um… and that’s- Wait, what’s that card?”

Ace looked up. There was something in Sabo’s voice that put him on alert.

“Urgh, the only high one I have. Sabo has far more!”

“No,” Sabo said, something almost strangled in his voice. “No, that’s not- What is it _called?_”

Ace froze.

“Uuh, lemme see… Oh, an ace. That’s an ace. Ace of spades. It’s the strongest of aces, I think. Why?”

Sabo was shaking. Slowly, robotically, he turned to Ace. Ace felt like a rabbit that was spotted by a fox. He couldn’t _move_.

“Y-you said I should remember for myself,” Sabo said, still with that strange strangled voice. “This card… It’s your name, right? Ace?” a choked sob. “You- you are Ace, aren’t you?”

Ace felt like crying himself. Jerkily, he nodded.

“I remembered,” Sabo said, a grin stretching his cheeks painfully wide, even as tears ran into his mouth. “_I remembered.”_

Ace gave in and rushed over to hug his brother.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Three days later, he stood beside the leader of the Revolutionary Army. The man was silent as he gazed over the waves.

Ace fidgeted.

“Your friend is awake and on the mend,” Luffy’s father said without preamble.

Ace nodded. “He almost didn’t recognize me,” he said quietly, still shaken by Sabo’s initial lack of reaction to his presence.

It had been terrifying. The nurse had assured him it was not unusual to experience memory problems after receiving a serious headwound, but it had almost shattered Ace to find his brother against all odds only be faced with the possibility that he had lost him anyway.

Thank the gods that Sabo was starting to remember more and more the longer he spend in Ace’s presence.

It had been the second time in just a few days that Ace felt he could die from relief when Sabo had furrowed his brow and asked with a puzzled look on his face, “Hey Ace, do you know how we got hurt like this? Why aren’t we with the bandits?”

The relief had been so intense that for once Ace had given in and explained as much as he knew about the Terminal fire and Sabo’s accident.

“You will soon need to decide what you are going to do from now,” Luffy’s father said. “Do you have a plan?”

Ace shrugged. “I don’t know,” he admitted reluctantly.

In his head, he heard Dadan shouting again. _It is this world that killed Sabo!!_

“Hm. I suppose we could drop you off at our next stop, if you wish. You will have to make your own way home though.”

_This world, huh, old hag… _

_Sabo’s still hurt. Someone still needs to _pay_._

“Say…” The words came without conscious thought. “Do you know who shot Sabo?”

The leader of the Revolutionary Army studied him, eyes serious and mouth pulled in a grave line. Ace tried not to squirm under the scrutiny.

“I do,” Luffy’s father finally admitted.

“Then _who_?” Ace demanded.

Luffy’s father remained silent.

Ace was struck with the inexplicable urge to fill that silence. “It’s just…” frustration too intense to contain, Ace met Dragon’s eyes squarely, jaw set and his determination laid bare. “If I knew who almost killed Sabo, I would go and murder him right now.”

Dragon tilted his head, before returning his eyes to the ocean. “You are young, and rash. On your own, you don’t stand a chance to reach your goal. Alone, you will perish.”

A considering look, to gauge Ace’s reaction. Ace glared back, not deterred in the least.

A small nod, as if a decision was made. “I would like to offer you a place among us. Your friend was shot by a Celestial Dragon, the highest of all nobles. The Revolutionary Army aims to bring down the World Government. The Celestial Dragons only retain their privileges because they are supported by the World Government.”

Ace blinked, as Dragon suddenly held out a hand in front of his face. “On your own, you don’t stand a chance. However, if you stand with us, you will have a chance to strike back at the World Nobles.”

Ace nodded slowly. Nodded again, more firmly, and grasped the hand of the leader of the Revolutionary Army. “I- I want to help. I can’t forgive that Celestial Dragon. I want to bring down the people who almost killed Sabo!”

For the first time, he could see how this man was Luffy’s dad. His grin was just as wide and wild as his son’s. “Well then! Welcome to the Revolutionary Army, young Ace!”

Despite himself, Ace smiled back.

**Author's Note:**

> So here I was, innocently scrolling through someone else’s tumblr page, when I come across someone called uncharted-seas throwing fic ideas into the void. I just had to take this one: 
> 
> _revolutionary!asl au. dragon raises luffy himself, and luffy is a well-known little hellion on baltigo. luffy is on the revolutionary ship heading to goa and witnesses dragon rescuing sabo. he sneaks onto the island to explore and comes across ace tied to a tree, grieving his best friend. luffy says, “oh, my dad rescued that guy. you wanna go see him?” … and that’s how the revolutionary army accidentally kidnapped a noble and the son of the pirate king._
> 
> Not sure if I will add to this, so for now I’ll put this on ‘finished’. But maybe I’ll come back later.


End file.
